Hey Cinephiles,
Welcome back to another episode of Thrift Picks, the show where I pull a few new additions off the shelves and give you a taste of what I’ve been collecting.
We’re back indoors today and focusing on disc-related physical media — all of these were picked up during last week’s visit to Academy Records.
As always, if you’re reading this on Substack, you can:
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📀 Let’s Get Into the Picks
Familiar Finds, Better Copies
Bowling for Columbine (dir. Michael Moore)
I had this before, but found a cleaner copy. One of those “glad to have in the library” titles.Big Eyes (dir. Tim Burton)
Starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. This one caught my attention a few months ago through DVD previews, but I never watched it. The true story of Margaret Keane, whose famous “big eye” paintings were falsely credited to her husband. It’s part art world exposé, part feminist drama.Radio (Cuba Gooding Jr. & Ed Harris)
A familiar title for many. I won’t go deep here — just a solid feel-good addition based on a true story.
Blind Buys + On-the-List Finds
Being Julia (Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons)
A drama about fame, aging, and reinvention. I found it in a small thrift shop near my job for $3. The security sticker was taped directly on the case and cover art — tried to remove it and ripped the cover… so I left it on. Charm of the hunt.The Red Kimono (Kino International)
A 1925 silent film produced by Mrs. Wallace Reid, with a story by Dorothy Arzner. This was a blind buy inspired by a film essay I watched recently. A rare early work of feminist filmmaking, featuring hand-tinted sequences and a piano score. I’ll be doing a deep dive on this one soon.Night Moves (1975, dir. Arthur Penn)
Gene Hackman stars in this neo-noir, which Criterion just restored in 4K. I’d read about it in Cinéaste magazine. Also features young James Woods and Melanie Griffith. I’ve been wanting to expand my neo-noir section (I recently picked up Thief and Heat), so this fits right in.Aimée & Jaguar (1998)
A German film based on a true love story between two women during WWII — one of them Jewish, the other the wife of a Nazi officer. This will go in the Queer Cinema section of my collection. Subtitled with bonus features.
Archival Gems + Box Sets
Lonesome (1928, dir. Paul Fejös – Criterion)
A buried silent-era treasure with experimental editing and early talkie segments. This edition also includes The Last Performance and a reconstructed version of Broadway, the most expensive Universal film of its time. So, three films for $15.99 — can’t beat that.Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales (Criterion DVD Box Set)
This was the real treasure of the haul. I’d been searching for The Collector, which is playing at Metrograph soon — and ended up finding the full DVD box set.
It includes:The Bakery Girl of Monceau
Suzanne’s Career
My Night at Maud’s
La Collectionneuse (The Collector)
Claire’s Knee
Love in the Afternoon
Plus 5 short films, and a copy of Rohmer’s original Six Moral Tales book.
Here’s a line what struck me deeply from the description:
“Sexy, philosophical, modern, daring, non-judgmental, and liberating.”
Cinema should challenge and expand our view of the world — and Rohmer does that through quiet, humanistic storytelling. This will definitely spark a longform series later this year.
🧾 What’s Coming Up
This haul adds to my growing international collection, and it lays the foundation for several future programs I’ll be running here on Substack. Some upcoming deep dives include:
Six Moral Tales breakdown
Neo-Noir Study
Early Women Filmmakers Series
Tennessee Williams’ Films Collection
🗓 Weekly Release Schedule
Here’s what to expect each week:
Sunday
Two for the Shelves (curated double features)
Monday
The Debate Room (House on Van Street)
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Thrift Picks (VHS hauls)
Friday
Short Essays & Notes Roundup
Saturday
Freeform posts, reflections, or spontaneous picks
Got a favorite from the stack? Curious about the The Red Kimono, or that Lonesome Criterion gem? Hit reply and let me know what you’d like me to dive deeper into.
💬 THRIFT THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
Sometimes you don’t realize what you’ve picked up until you really read the back. It’s that moment when a $15 disc turns into three films, or a sticker-ripped case becomes your favorite copy.
Thrifting isn’t just about saving money, it’s about rediscovering what’s been waiting for you all along. That’s the joy of collecting. One film leads to a box set. One blind buy leads to a whole new genre. Stay curious.
🛎️ COMING UP
Thanks for reading and watching. I’m not worried about runtime anymore—I just want to share my love of film and curation with you. If you haven’t subscribed yet, hit the button below and join the conversation.
Until then,
Stay curious and keep digging,
—E. A. Bland
Seen any of these? Got a favorite forgotten title hiding on your own shelf? Drop it in a reply—I’m always hunting.
Murder Was the Case (1995) meets The Life of David Gale (2003) in this high-stakes double feature about mortality, morality, and the cost of conviction. One is a mythic gangsta rap short dripping with supernatural swagger. The other is a slow-burning death penalty drama built on mystery and sacrifice.
Together, they ask: Is truth more powerful than death — or just another form of performance?
As a follow-up to last week’s introductory issue on artificial intelligence—and its growing impact on, and acceptance by, society and culture, for better or worse—I thought we’d pivot slightly to explore AI’s influence at the intersection of cinema and education.
As always, I’ll be speaking primarily from personal experience, weaving in objective evidence where relevant to support my stance. But remember: the floor is always open. That’s exactly what The Debate Room was built for—open dialogue, thoughtful exchange, and fresh perspectives.
A Tale of Two Systems is a powerful essay that deserves a thorough reading. Don’t believe me? Meditate on this quote—a scathing indictment of today’s “armchair psychologist” culture, and society at large, through the lens of cinema:
We do not live in a world of “just” systems. In fact many of the systems in place are actively harmful to those involved and the current film industry is no different.
“Just because someone is the loudest, doesn’t mean they are right.”
Social media has proven this time and time again by pretty much anyone who owns podcast equipment yet we still look to those who control the narrative as if they alone are the moral authority and thus final say. -Taylor Lewis, A Tale of Two Systems
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